An update: The fall of the rule of law

The Biden administration is making it clear that it will not take the rule of law seriously. It is now actively protecting the ex-president from prosecution for his crimes. The Washington Post writes:

For Donald Trump’s entire presidency, top congressional Democrats used every tool at their disposal to investigate the Washington hotel he leased from the federal government, issuing subpoenas, holding hearings and filing a lawsuit to try to bring the inner workings of Trump’s luxury property to light.

The efforts were framed as a defense of democracy itself. Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) said the Trump administration’s refusal to provide documents “was not just disconcerting but an affront to the democratic institutions that the United States has been founded upon.” Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said the lawsuit, filed in federal court, was “in pursuit of justice to make sure our committee can fulfill its duty to the American people.”

None of it worked — a testament to Trump’s willingness to fight at every turn. But now, with the Biden administration in place, Democrats’ efforts to unearth and make public the information haven’t gone much better.

Biden’s team has steadfastly defended some of the protections the Trump administration put in place to conceal Trump’s financial interests. The Justice Department under Biden is appealing a lower court judgment in favor of the congressional Democrats in their suit, another move by the agency to defend Trump-era legal positions. Biden’s General Services Administration, which holds the lease for the Trump International hotel, has provided only a portion of the documents Congress is seeking and asked that none of them be disclosed publicly.  

White House spokesman Andrew Bates declined to comment.

Since there is no explanation from Biden or the Department of Justice, one can assume that they are corrupted or subverted and maybe somehow coerced into protecting the crook. We are on the verge of the fall of democracy and the rule of law, and neither Biden nor the DoJ is willing to stand in their defense. The fascist GOP has no interest in the rule of law except to apply it to attack their political opposition. Biden and the DoJ are actively betraying us by cementing corruption and criminality as politically acceptable precedents. From here on out, a president really is above the law. A pox on Biden and the DoJ.